Year after year the Phoenix Suns put up one of the best regular season records, but fail to produce in the playoffs.  The good record part seems to be in full bloom once again this year, but they will be getting a good taste of what to expect in the playoffs as they take on the defending NBA champions, San Antonio Spurs, on Thursday. 

Two-time MVP Steve Nash is once again passing the ball at will against NBA defenses, averaging over 12 assists per game.  Nash is also scoring 17 points a game, numbers almost equal to his MVP seasons.  Amare Stoudemire leads the team in scoring with 22.7 points a game, while his counterpart Shawn Marion leads the team with just over ten rebounds a game.

The big three for the Suns is pretty good, but the big three for the Spurs has proven they can get it done on the biggest of stages.  Tim Duncan continues to be one of the best power forwards in the league, leading his team with 11.2 rebounds.  Tony Parker, who has come alive the last few years, leads all Spurs scorers with 19.6 a game.  Finally Manu Ginobili  is averaging 19.2 a game.  The Spurs have had nagging injury problems all year, but unfortunately for the rest of the league, they seem to all be pretty healthy now.  The Spurs are currently in the middle of a log jam in the Southwest standings in the west, with three teams, including themselves, within a half game of each other in the standings.  I like the Spurs in this one, they seem to be on a roll lately. 

This game on Thursday features two of the most exciting, and well regarded teams in the NBA.  Both the Mavericks and the Celtics have NBA Final aspirations, as do all teams, but these two have as good as chance as just about any of the best teams.  The Mavericks are winners of eight out of their last ten after starting the beginning of the season a little slower than years past.  Nobody in the Western conference is dominating this year, and 55 wins or so might be enough to win the conference.  In other words, there are a lot of good teams in the conference this year.  The Celtics are actually in the midst of their worst downswing of the season.  While still playing well, they have actually only won six out of their last ten.  While that doesn’t seem that bad, when you consider they only have seven losses the entire season, you can see that most of them have came of late.  Surprisingly, four of those seven losses have come at home. 

The Celtics still have a commanding lead in the Eastern conference, but they would like to continue playing well to ensure the home court advantage all the way through the playoffs.  Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett have never won an NBA championship, and with each in their 30’s now, they would like to finish their career on a high note with a championship or two.  In order to do that they will need to beat tough teams like Dallas in the process. 

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